For my Sponsees. Ongoing posts to explain my personal interpretation, and preferred method, of recovering from Alcoholism, using the Basic Text of Alcoholics Anonymous as a template. Based on 20yrs sober life experience. I just add bits when I remember something. NOBODY, including myself, speaks for AA as a whole. Take what you like and leave the rest. Live and Let Live. The Principles of Unity and Tolerance of other people's views and opinions are FAR more important than ANY personality in AA

About Me

I have recovered from the disease of Alcoholism. I believe there is only one person really,.. everybody. And that peace of mind is everything. -So treat your neighbor as you would treat yourself, because your neighbor IS yourself. I think most of recovery is what I would call common sense, but that learning to be ordinary is a true gift very few people acquire. My ambition is to accept everything unflinchingly, with compassion, and therefore be intrinsically comfortable in my own skin, no matter what. I am comfortable being uncomfortable and am willing to go to any lengths to improve my life. I believe the Big Book was divinely inspired, and is extraordinarily powerful. Unfortunately AA's best kept secret a lot of the time. (In my opinion). I just try to do what works, no matter what it is.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Some great quotes..

Some great quotes that Ajahn Brahm makes quite often.. I loved some of these so I thought I would share them. He has the standard 'This too will pass', but I include it just to demonstrate the similarities between what he is talking about and AA I suppose. I love step 11 practitioners. Well not ALL of them, but I occasionally am very inspired by them. Some of these are gems. I love em :)btw Ajahn Brahm has loads of talks on youtube on the BuddhistSocietyWA's Channel if you ? like that kind of thing. I find them very helpful for getting a good nights sleep during exams :)Anyway, Hope you are having a volcanic dust-free weekend :) Meanwhile here's the quotes:

Whatever you think it's going to be..It will always be something different.

"Never allow your knowledge to stand in the way of truth."

"The secret to life is... Everything is out of control"

"Pushing the wheelbarrow is easy, its the thinking about it that is hard"

"Suffering is asking from the world what it can never give you"

"The door of my heart will always be open to you, no matter what you did, who you are."

We should always be grateful for the faults in our partner because if they didn't have those faults from the start, they would have been able to marry someone much better than us.

How many times should you forgive someone? Always "one more time."

There is no right or wrong decision, only a decision with consequences

"What is the Law of Khamma in short? You get everything you deserve."

"This is good enough"

"A Busy person is not someone who has lots to do...Busy person is someone who does too many things at the same time"

"The purpose of life is finding the purpose of life"

Anger comes from frustrated plans..

Less expectations..Less Anger...

"When you expect less you can appreciate more"

What's the challenge in loving someone who's perfect?

Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes.That way, if he gets angry, he's a mile away and barefoot.

"Teach your child two things - teach him to be honest and to question."

"Complaining is finding faults, wisdom is finding solutions"

Better to Light a Candle than Complain about the Darkness

"It's very compelling, very attractive to have a big daddy in the sky or a big mummy in the sky who will actually make sure that everything is okay for you and will make sure that all your problems disappear... BUT, you know, we're grown up now."

Followers

Thich Nhat Hanh: Birth and Death are Just a Game of Hide and Seek

clustermap thingy

The Six Things. To do every day.

1. Check in with a sponsor (ideally,) or another long time sober person. Or a very cool ‘Spiritual Friend’.

2. Phone a newcomer. Give it away to keep it. THIS IS YOUR MOST POWERFUL DEFENCE AGAINST DRINKING.

3. Hit your knees. Ask YOUR concept of ‘a power greater than yourself’ (It can be the power of AA as a whole, or the power that makes the earth turn) for a sober day, and say thanks at night. It HAS to be a LOVING concept of a HP. (see Trad 2.) If it is even a little bit judgmental, it’s no good. Ask for help with whatever roadblocks you are experiencing at present,

4. Gratitude list. Work against your natural tendency to take things for granted. Is the glass half empty or half full? Write down 6 things that make you laugh, smile or feel glad to be alive.

5. TRY to do one of the things on the just for today card. Think of it as a portable programme. Carry it with you throughout the day. If you become negative, try applying any one of the instructions on the card to your situation.

6. Read a page of the big book or Go to a meeting. Look out for newcomers and long time sober members. Try to be of service in some form or other while at the meeting. If you want to share, sit at the front, and share first. Start with saying I enjoyed your share and I identified with you.

Happy Big Book Quotes

If you persist, remarkable things will happen. When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned. Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstances! p100

We are SURE God wants us to be happy, joyous, and free. p133

We aren't a glum lot. p132

We ABSOLUTELY INSIST on enjoying life. p132

There is, however, a VAST amount of FUN about it all. p16

The joy of living we REALLY have, even under pressure and difficulty. p15

We think cheerfulness and laughter make for usefulness. p132

If newcomers could see no joy or fun in our existence, they wouldn't want it. p132

When ALL other measure failed, work with another alcoholic WOULD save the day. p15

On talking to a man there, I would be AMAZINGLY lifted up and set on my feet. p15

We, (who have RECOVERED from serious drinking,) are MIRACLES of MENTAL HEALTH. p133

There are those, too, who suffer from GRAVE emotional and mental disorders, but MANY of them DO recover IF they have the capacity to be HONEST. p58

It is a design for living that WORKS in ROUGH going. p15

There is scarcely any form of trouble and misery which has not been overcome among us. p15

Our troubles, we think, are basically of our OWN making. p62

It is CLEAR that WE made our own misery. p133

Avoid then, the deliberate manufacture of misery. p133

We CANNOT subscribe to the belief that this life is a vale of tears,

We try not to indulge in cynicism over the state of the nations,

Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we burst into merriment

The most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead. p152

When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than ANYTHING we could have planned. p100

I have since been brought into a way of living infinitely more satisfying and, I hope, more useful than the life I lived before. My old manner of life was by no means a bad one, but I would not exchange its best moments for the worst I have now. I would not go back to it even if I could. p43

Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world, no matter what your present circumstances! p100

There exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is INDESCRIBABLY WONDERFUL. p17

We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed. p25

If you persist, REMARKABLE things will happen. p100

You WILL find release from care, boredom and worry. Your imagination WILL be fired. p151

Most of us feel we need look no further for Utopia. We have it with us right here and now. p16

Protection: 'Giving it away to keep it' Slogans

Practical experience shows that NOTHING will so much insure immunity from drinking as INTENSIVE work with other alcoholics. p89

OUR VERY LIVES, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our CONSTANT thought of others and how we may help meet their needs. p20

DO THE RIGHT THINGS AND THE RIGHT THINGS WILL HAPPEN

For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge his spiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could NOT survive the CERTAIN trials and low spots ahead. p14

Keep on the firing line of life with these MOTIVES and God WILL, (not might) keep you unharmed. p102

Your MOTIVE is your PROTECTION

Your job now is to be at the place where you may be of MAXIMUM helpfulness to others. p102 The good is the enemy of the best. Tradition 2

When ALL other measure failed, work with another alcoholic WOULD save the day. p15

I would be AMAZINGLY lifted up and set on my feet.It is a design for living that works in rough going. p15

Self Will - Arrogance Slogans

Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy?

Surrender to Win

(On holding back) The more you put in, the more you get out

COMPLETELY give yourself to THIS simple programme

Reliance not defiance

I'm not getting into the lifeboat until I know WHY this ship is sinking!

Bludgeoned into Humility by pain and unremitting suffering

Sick and tired of being sick and tired

If you're spinning your wheels, try getting out of the driver's seat

Change is not painful. It is RESISTANCE to change that is painful

Your Higher Power makes your life uncomfortable when its time for you to change

THERE ARE NO DAYS OFF!

It's alcohol-ism, not -wasm.

Great suffering and great love are A.A.'s disciplinarians; we need no others. Some of us have taken VERY hard knocks to learn this truth: Job or no job, wife or no wife, we simply do NOT stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people (places and things) ahead of dependence on God

If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’re going to KEEP getting what you’re getting

If you do what you always did, you'll get what you always got.

If nothing changes, nothing changes.

On Arrogance: You don't know what you don't know

Take the plank out of your own eye before you take the splinter out of someone elses

You can't bullshit a bullshitter

Let go or be dragged

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result

What makes you think it's going to be different THIS time?

Its better to be in AA pretending to be an alcoholic, than to be 'out there', pretending you're not

Isolation is the dark room where we develop our 'negatives'.

Relapse begins long before you pick up the drink/drug.

SLIP: Sobriety loses it's priority.

EVERY time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with US

Pain is necessary, suffering is optional!

If you hang around a barbershop long enough, eventually you'll get a haircut.

Metaphysics - Manifestation - Cosmic Ordering Slogans

Thoughts Become Things...choose the good ones!

You move towards, and become like, that which you think about, whether it is good for you, or bad for you

"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thought. With our thoughts, we make our world." ~The Buddha

The more you think about the problem, the bigger the problem gets. The more you think about the solution, the bigger the solution gets.

We don't see things as they are, we see them as WE are

What you 'see' is what you 'get'

I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become

What would it look like WITHOUT the problem?

What do you want?

Stick with the winners: Have they got what you want? Do they look as though they are enjoying their sobriety? What are they like in the traffic? Are they comfortable in their own skin?

Fake it to make it

Act as if

On negative self talk. If a friend spoke to you, the way YOU, spoke to you, would you hang around with them?

Live in the solution

My Favorite Old Timer's Sayings

The ONLY thing you give up is your MISERY

Pray for the Bastard!

THE NEWCOMER IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE ROOM

(in reference to statements from the Big Book) -Doesn't say, 'except for Mary, or John, or David'.

COMPLETELY give themselves to THIS simple program.

Just do what makes you feel COMFORTABLE

We are SURE God wants us to be happy, joyous and free.

EVERY time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with US

Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our CONSTANT thought of others and how we may help meet their needs

Wise people learn from their own mistakes. Smart people learn from other people’s

The people that matter don’t mind, and the people that mind, don’t matter

Wear life like a loose garment, not like a hair shirt!

It’s a cinch an inch, but it’s hard by the yard

What would be the LOVING thing to do?

Stick with the winners

Keep on the firing line of life with these motives and God WILL, (not might) keep you unharmed

(On choosing Sponsors) Have they got what you want?

Do they look as though they are enjoying their sobriety?

What are they like in the traffic?

Are they comfortable in their own skin?

The good is the enemy of the best

Your job now is to be at the place where you may be of MAXIMUM helpfulness to others

Sick and tired of being sick and tired

Its better to be in AA pretending to be an alcoholic, than to be 'out there', pretending you're not

It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice

(on talking in meetings) In a 'GENERAL' way. Not a blow by blow account!

Random snaps from my mobile phone

TOP Slogans

Love is an action. Doing the next right thing even if it is terrifying. Feelings and thoughts change constantly and bear little or no resemblance to reality

Practical experience shows that NOTHING will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. p89 Big Book

Get off the cross, we need the wood

Let go or be dragged

The people that matter don't mind, and the people that mind don't matter

Its better to be in AA pretending to be an alcoholic, than to be 'out there', pretending you're not

A bad workman blames his tools

Talk is cheap. Actions speak MUCH louder than words

Take the plank out of your own eye, before you take the splinter out of someone else's

Feeling without action is sentimentality Action without feeling is an empty gesture

A powerful body comes from exercising. A powerful mind comes from keeping it still.

If you want to hide something from an alcoholic, put it in the Big Book

You snooze you lose

THE NEWCOMER IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE ROOM

Are you hoping that one day everything will be fine and you'll enjoy everything? You can enjoy everything, nothing is too small or large to enjoy. You should learn to enjoy, in all aspects of your life. Tell me one thing in the day you look forward to?

Things are never as bad or as good as you think!

You MOVE TOWARDS, and BECOME LIKE, THAT WHICH YOU THINK ABOUT, whether it is good for you, or bad for you

Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love~ Rumi